I picked up a reusable bag from Home Depot for $1.99, been thinking of getting a reusable bag but hate to pay $20 and ship it across the country.

The funny thing is I've been seeing these everywhere, people at work, people in other stores. Maybe the fact it's Home Depot makes it macho and ok, and not wimpy. Who knows, but I hope to keep seeing more and more of these

These are good suggestions, all of them, even the ones I've heard before...but I prefer to just recycle all the bags I end up with. It gets more bags into the recycling system, encourages more people to recycle (my co-workers tend to give me their shopping bags) and I have so many re-usable bags anyway I have them in my car for quick trips, plus all over the house.

Mostly, we use re-usable bags, but when we do get plastic bags, they are used in our small trash cans that need bags (e.g. the kitchen, most other waste baskets are fine without), and we use them for the all important cleaning-up-dog-poop-in-the-park.

I got a crocheted-from-store-bags shoulder bag at a church bazar several years ago because I thought the idea was so cool. I didn't expect it to last, but the thing wears like cast iron. It machine washes when it gets dusty and its colors have stayed bright. Anybody who crochets should take a run at these. There are multiple how-to's on the web.

Another re-use idea that doesn't get mentioned for plastic t-shirt bags is dog poop bags. Pet stores sell lots of virgin plastic bags for this purpose, which is pretty dumb. Used t-shirt bags work great for this purpose, as do the tube bags that newspapers get delivered in. Most dog owners go through several bags per day.

These are some really good ideas for how to reuse those pesky plastic bags! Reuse is always better than recycling, just like this article says. I mean, the amount of energy required to recycle something is much higher than that needed to reuse it (often nothing).

I agree with the doggie bag sentiment. That's what I always use them for. Still, I'm curious about the age-old question: paper or plastic?

"I prefer to just recycle all the bags I end up with. It gets more bags into the recycling system, encourages more people to recycle"

Frank, I gotta say you're way off base here. The first part of reduce-reuse-recycle is reduce, not recycle, for a good reason. Most of the plastic bags dropped off in those bins don't get recycled, just trashed, and the ones that DO get recycled are shipped halfway around the world on barges to China and recycled there, where the environmental regulations are more lax and recyclers can get away with dumping God knows what into the air and water. Using a ton of bags to set a good example is asinine. Listen to yourself -- do you really think that the problem is a SHORTAGE of used grocery bags? Honestly? Since when has a shortage of trash plastic EVER been an issue?

And I'd like to know how your using fresh, single-use plastic to take your shopping home does anything to encourage anybody in any kind of eco-friendlier change.

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Reusing bags should not be encouraged. All you are doing is placing something in the bag before it ends up in landfill, where it can take up to 1000 years to breakdown. When they do breakdown the toxic particles that make up the bag seep into the soil (the earth). The ones that sray (windswept) make their way to the necks and intestines of birds and marine animals, which end up choking and dying of intestinal blockage. Many marine animals think the broken up bags are krill or jellyfish and will mistakenly eat it, ultimately dying a painful death. JUST STOP USING PLASTIC BAGS. They use up non-renewable resources and harm the land and marine animals. Buy reusbale bags and if you really want to help buy ones made from a natural resource, like hemp or jute.